User talk:Dottiesshop

Bullying in the Workplace

Boy, could this be a touchy subject! If you think bullying is only done by the big and brutish, you need to think again. If you think bullying is only related to threats of physical harm, you have another thing coming.

Whilst I have had some exposure to this type of undesirable work activity, whether at the workplace or over some form of written or electronic media, I am not an expert and while I will be alluding to some personal knowledge of experiences, I will also be referring to my Health and Safety Handbook, of which I would highly recommend you subscribe.

This post will only be short, it could go on and on, but hopefully it will serve as a wake up to those who bully, management and those who witness this unsavory activity and do nothing about it.

What is Workplace Bullying?

Bullying is harmful behaviour that is directed towards a person or group of people, and: •	is repeated; •	is unreasonable; •	is unwelcome; and •	causes either physical or psychological harm.

A wide range of injuries and illnesses can result from bullying, including: •	anxiety; •	depression; •	insomnia; •	stress; •	self-harm; •	eating disorders; and •	suicide.

When people are suffering from stress or other psychological illnesses, they are more prone to developing physical illnesses.

Bullying can be both intentional and unintentional. Your business can still be liable even if the alleged bully did not intend to hurt someone. The important thing is to determine whether the behaviour could reasonably be held to create a risk to health and safety.

Other Risks of Bullying

As well as creating a risk to health and safety, bullying can result in costs to your business through: •	increased absenteeism; •	reduced productivity; •	high staff turnover; and •	legal claims for damages and costs.

Let’s look at an example:

Sandra holds a senior position overseeing a number of technical areas of the business she works for. Part of her role is to ensure the company is protected against unintentional, or even intentional technical breaches that could place the business in jeopardy. Sandra is good at her job, and has often had to discuss with contractors to the business areas they have interpreted incorrectly, or have in fact produced the wrong result due to their lack of diligence or wanting to cut corners to save money.

This due diligence by Sandra has caused the contractor to encounter delays in the already time poor project, and her manager is continually stressing that she is not interpreting technical plans correctly (which she is), not getting on with the contractors (they continually want to do things their way) and that she is not a team player.

This constant attitude of her manager is causing Sandra a lot of stress and as a result is not able to sleep well at night, is often brought to tears in her own private time and she is now continually questioning her abilities and feels very inadequate.

Sandra feels she needs to quit her job to get away from all these hassles of her manager. The worse thing is, she has even thought of self- harm.

Bullying can be both intentional and unintentional, but your business can still be liable even if the alleged bully did not intend to hurt someone, physically or psychologically.

Business managers should know that a failure to uphold a duty, depending on the severity, could be a criminal offence and lead to a criminal prosecution and conviction for both a person and a company. This could mean both jail and a huge fine.

Under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act, officers must take reasonable steps to ensure that PCBUs are complying with that duty.

As well as being liable for a criminal offence under health and safety legislation for breaching your general duty, if bullying occurs in your workplace, you can also face: •	claims under the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act); •	possible State Crimes Acts; and •	claims for workers’ compensation or negligence.

The following checklist is from the Health and Safety Handbook:

How to Determine if Bullying is a Problem in Your Workplace

To help you identify whether bullying is a problem in your workplace, do the following things: •	Talk to your workers to find out if bullying is occurring or if there are unreasonable behaviours or situations likely to increase the risk of bullying. If your workers seem hesitant to talk, you can try using anonymous methods to obtain information, e.g. anonymous surveys or a suggestion box. •	Monitor patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, staff turnover, grievances, injury reports and other such records to establish any regular patterns or sudden unexplained changes that could indicate that there is a bullying problem in your workplace. •	Keep an eye out for any changes in relationships between workers, customers and managers. •	Seek feedback when workers leave the business by holding exit interviews. •	Seek feedback about workplace behaviours from managers and supervisors or any other relevant parties. •	Consider ways to make reporting bullying easy for those who may not wish to discuss the situation with those connected with the business or who want to remain anonymous, e.g. using a whistleblower hotline service so that workers can report bullying to a party not associated with the business.

Bullying is not something anyone should be subject too. Let’s help to put a stop to it and it’s devastating consequences. Never be backwards in asking your workmates if they are ok! It just might save someone in need of help.

If you would like more detailed information on this subject or would like a copy of a workplace policy on bullying, please contact myself on stansykes@icloud.com. I will only be too pleased to help.

Posted by www.dotties-shop.com